When I heard from a friend that the “Bad Romance” video would have human trafficking as its subject, I said, “That’s…sexy?” I’ve always walked a fine line between thinking Lady GaGa is brilliant and thinking she’s pretentious. But, honestly, I think that’s kind of her thing and maybe I dig it, maybe it’s just silly.

I’m no artist, nor do I make any claims to be. I do want to give the video some consideration, however, I’ll approach it with my journalistic background. That means I’m skeptical. I’ve watched the video several times now and I’m still walking that line between thinking it’s awesome and thinking it’s just really processed and an extended product placement. I may get in trouble with my gay brethren for question the GaGa, but I suppose someone has to. It seems that people either love her unconditionally or hate her with a passion. I’d like to be the voice of reason in between.

The video itself has a much slicker feel than her previous videos. It’s befitting of a second album and of a song with more meaningful lyrics than offerings such as “Just Dance” and “Boys Boys Boys.” First of all, there is a wonderful juxtaposition between dark and light in the video. I’m not one-hundred percent sure I know the “plot line,” if you will, but it seems that a doey-eyed GaGa is playing in a bath tub in a processing facility for a reverse-mail-order bride scenario. She has several distinct looks in the video — what’s new, right? — and they all seem to be representations of different kinds of women. The doey-eyed innocent (made even more doey-eyed by computer generated big ol’ eyes), the world-weary woman lamenting the loss of her innocence, the widow, dressed in black and wearing an asymmetrical crown, the Madonna-esque, Marilyn-Monroe throwback in red to signify her sexuality and passion and the caked-on, made-up caricature of a young woman made to look “grown up” to impress the men who want to purchase her.

The sequences are startlingly beautiful and the video looks very slick with the exception of a couple of instances where the lip syncing appears to be an after thought (though I wouldn’t put it past the GaGa to have done that intentionally as well). There is a notable lack of fabulous dancing, even if the scenes are well-choreographed; none of her signature male dancers appear in the video and she is surrounded by women. In fact, the only men who DO appear in the video are futuristic, Russian-esque men in metal chin straps and head, er, masks(?) who swill vodka on the rocks and bid money to purchase the overly made-up GaGa.

GaGa has said that she worked well with director Francis Lawrence because he was willing to surrender the creative control to her. She says the video was conceived by the nebulous “Haus of GaGa,” which seems to be equal parts ostentatiousness and whatever you think it’s not-itude. So, I have to wonder if the fame monster hasn’t gone to her head a little bit? I wouldn’t expect GaGa to do anything low-key or without some sort of strange and wonderful twist to it, but is she really making much of a statement about human trafficking and woman power when she wears next to nothing and sets a bed on fire with her bra- and panty-clad body to burn her oppressor? There are some pretty powerful shots of her in the shower that are digitally edited to make her look emaciated and malnourished. Of all of the images in this video, these haunt me the most.

It is extremely interesting, though, how GaGa is not only mirroring Madonna’s rise to fame, but her look, her sound (check out the “Vogue”-inspired chant in “Dance in the Dark”) and her ability to charm the socks (and pants and g-strings) off of gay fans. GaGa is certainly her own person and to say that she’s simply copying Madonna would be missing the point entirely, but to fully consider her career and this video especially, I would be remiss in not mentioning the connection.

So, I guess I’ve simply come to the realization that GaGa is not simply spouting drivel with the new video, but I honestly don’t think it’s a piéce de resistance either. It’s beautiful and stylish and also not really a scathing rebuke of the human trafficking industry. But, perhaps it really doesn’t need to be. It IS pop music, after all.

Also, if you’re wondering about the title of this post, it’s one of the things I’ve heard people misunderstanding GaGa as saying when she sings “Want your bad romance.” That, Want Your Bar Omens and Watch Out for Romance are probably my favorites.

Until next time.

'Lungs' - Florence + the Machine, July 2009, Island Records

It’s rare that I stumble upon an artist, album or song that really grabs me by the hair and forces my face into awesomeness, but thanks to Pandora.com, I recently happened to hear “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” by Florence + the Machine on my Tori Amos Radio station.  I enjoyed the song so I added F+tM to the station and heard some other really nice songs.

And then “Howl” came on and I sat for three and a half minutes at my desk at work doing nothing but listening intently.  This song is single-handedly the best song I’ve ever heard about creepy, obsessive passion.  With lyrics like “I drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart” and “The fabric of your flesh / pure as a wedding dress / until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest,” a driving drum beat, a singer with a hauntingly beautiful voice and a tempo that builds from sultry to frenetic, this song will rock your world if you are into artists like Regina Spektor, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Lykke Li and Fiona Apple.

Florence Welch doing what she does best

Obviously “Howl” is my hands-down favorite from the album, but “Lungs” is chock-full of great songs that range from demanding to smooth.  The theme of the album seems to be passion in its various forms with nods to neurotic love in several songs.  Florence Welch, the band’s frontwoman croons in “I’m Not Calling You a Liar” all but begging her lover not to treat her badly, claiming that “I love you so much I’m gonna let you kill me.”  Talk about unhealthy love, but somehow it’s beautiful when she sings it.  Continuing the obsession theme, “Drumming Song” describes an uncontrollable desire for another person that seems to be unrequited and unavoidable.  The song evokes the delicious-repulsive way we feel when we want someone so badly.

The album debuted in the U.K. in July and has yet to make it to the U.S. shores, but mark my words: This band will arrive across the pond soon enough and you’ll already know about it.  The first single, “Kiss with a Fist” is a cute song, but hardly showcases the album’s tone and genius.  Mistakes will probably be made about which singles to release when the album arrives — I’m looking at you Ting Tings — but buy it now and explore it yourself.  You won’t regret it if you like powerful female singers and ethereal sounds over a purposeful beat with lyrics that will not leave you alone.  “Lungs” fills you with an obsession for it that mirrors the obsession its songs encapsulate.

OK, I admit it.  I’m a sucker for musicals.  You don’t even know.  I think it must be in my gay genes or something, but I’m not particularly proud of it.  I’m not really ashamed of it either, though.  Musicals are odd things really.  I mean, musicals aren’t very realistic when someone bursts into song about how much they love the person they’re talking to or about the weather.  But there’s a certain suspension of disbelief that we lend musicals.  We just go with it and I wonder if being in a culture that raises children on Disney musicals has something to do with that.

Glee, the new show about high school show choir on Fox, airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m.  and looks to be pretty fabulous so far.  The pilot aired last May to a pretty sizeable audience and as one of the first new shows to start airing this fall, I imagine Glee will gather a pretty quick following.

Not only does the show have great music in it, it’s also one of those musicals that makes sense because the characters are supposed to be singing.  It’s show choir!  It’s also got a quirky, awkward feel to it and it definitely speaks to everyone who went through high school.  The star quarterback doubles as one of the stars of show choir, which probably wouldn’t have happened when I was in school — the “Old” in my name is pretty apt — but who knows with kids these days.

Glee stars Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, the Spanish teacher who also oversees show choir.  Morrison hasn’t really had a leading role in anything yet, but he’s endearing and easy on the eyes.  The show also stars Jane Lynch of “Best in Show” and “Role Models” as the high school’s Spirit Squad coach who is sort of Schuester’s nemesis.  Lynch is always hilarious in anything she does and it’s good to see her get another chance to shine on screen.

So Glee has a lot of things going for it: good actors, great music, a theme that everyone can relate to.  We’ll see where it goes, but you should check it out if you haven’t seen the pilot yet.